It’s cooling down a bit this week on the West Coast and this dish is the perfect cozy, cinnamony, filling and warm breakfast dish for chilly mornings although I do enjoy it as an afternoon snack. I love serving it with a bit of extra nut milk, sheep yogurt or dollop of coconut whip cream, my guilty pleasure is Truwhip.

I will say, this dish requires some time, so go ahead and make the spiced apples a day ahead and store them in an airtight container until they are ready to add to the millet. The apples require a couple of hours to get all caramelized and soft, but they are so worth it. This dish is so worth it. This is a great brunch dish to be served in one go for a group or, what I do for myself, is make it for the first day and spoon out a serving  or two and then for the subsequent mornings, I reheat individual portions in a small pyrex dish in my toaster over for 10 minutes at 350.

Millet is one of those grains that is simple in taste, heart, filling, and it generally takes on the flavors of what is served with it. It is an acid/alkaline balancing grain. Meaning it won’t get your gut over acidic or over alkaline. It is also low on the glycemic index. I have mentioned I don’t eat a lot of grains but millet is one of those grains, when eaten in moderation, works for me. I made this with my homemade walnut milk recipe but go ahead and use a boxed cereal of juice, almond and hemp are great too.

I used Fuji apples for this recipe, because they are one of my favorites taste-wise, apples are still in season, so go ahead and use the apples you like most for your dish. Apples are high in fiber and also quite low on the glycemic index, remembering of course, when we cook fruits, the sugar content will concentrate. And by the way, these apples can be made without the millet and served over your favorite vanilla frozen dish, yogurt or simply on their own. They are that good.

When cooking the apples feel free to use less or none of the coconut sugar. The crumble topping ads a bit of unexpected flavor with ground up star of anise. Enjoy!

Makes 6 servings/ preparation time 20 minutes/ Bake time 2.5 hours/ Total time 2 hours 50 minutes

Gather

Spiced Apples

4 Fuji apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4”/3.81 cm moons

1 teaspoon / 4.929 ml vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoon / 8.53 g cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon / 5 g nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon / 2.84 g ginger 

Pinch salt

1/3 cup/43 grams coconut sugar

1/2 tablespoon / 7.19 g arrow root powder

5 tablespoons / 73.93 ml water

3 tablespoons / 42.52 g vegan butter

Millet

1 cup/108 grams millet

2 cups water/ 474 ml

Pinch of salt

Later- 1/2 cup / 75 g chopped walnuts

1/3 cup/43 grams currents soaked for 15 minutes in warm water

1 3/4 cup/ 400 ml nut milk (walnut milk recipe here )

1 tablespoon/ 14.3 g maple syrup (optional)

Crumble topping

1/4 cup / 43 g walnuts

Small piece star of anise (about the size of a thumb nail)

2 tablespoons/ 28.3 g coconut sugar

Make

Melt the vegan butter in a medium pot, Add the apples, water, vanilla, arrowroot, salt, and spices. Simmer with lid ajar, over medium low heat for 1.5-2 hours. Stir periodically, careful not to burn or dry out. Your house with smell amazing.

While apples are cooking, prepare the millet. Toast the millet in a medium sauce pan for 5 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid burning. The millet will turn slightly brown. Add water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover, allowing millet to cook for 15-20 minutes until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Set aside.

Soak the currents for 15 minutes in warm water and then drain.

Once millet is cooled add the walnut milk and allow the millet to soak it up. Then mix in your currents and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Spread the millet mixture into a 10 x 7 inch baking dish.

Preheat oven to 375 F/ 191 C
To make crumble topping process the walnuts, star anise, and 2 tablespoons coconut sugar in mini prep till it resembles a fine meal, about 1 minute.

Layer the cooked apples over millet. Then sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the apples and bake for 20-30 minutes on 375.

Developed by Anna Getty

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